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Teenage Animal: Why Martin Garrix Is The Fastest-Rising Star in EDM

Most teenagers will celebrate their high school graduation at home, toasting their coming of age with apple cider and supermarket cupcakes with grandma, Aunt Jean and a few classmates. Martin Garrix celebrated finishing music academy classes in June by partying with hundreds of thousands, first in Warsaw, then Las Vegas (twice), then Dover (yes, Delaware) and then back in Vegas.

Such is life when you’re the fastest-rising act in electronic dance music. In the span of 12 months, the 18-year-old Garrix not only completed school, but went from a being literal spectator at the world’s largest music festivals to performing on their main stages, propelled by a Top 10 hit, savvy business partnerships and a certain self-awareness that’s often lost on young stars.

“It’s crazy to see how much has happened in such a small time period,” says Garrix, sprawled out on a copper couch inside Las Vegas’ Hakkasan nightclub. It’s Saturday afternoon during Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) weekend and he’s shaking off the yawns after playing well past midnight the night before. Tonight, he’s going even later, closing out the main stage with around 50,000 people at 4 a.m. before catching a flight to Dover for another festival and then returning to Hakkasan, where he’ll play despite being three years short of legal drinking age. (On the three sold-out dates that he’s played there, he had to be escorted in and out of a completely dry DJ booth.)

While dance music has seen its fair share of young talent, no one has hit the same heights at such a tender age as Garrix. Born Martijn Garritsen in a suburb just outside Amsterdam, he is the new face in rapidly evolving genre that has embraced his big room anthems, particularly “Animals,” which catapulted him into the spotlight. That track, which is now more than a year old, peaked at No. 1 in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, and went platinum in the U.S.

“I made ['Animals'] as a club record and to get it played at the clubs and festivals,” Garrix says, still in astonishment of the song’s popular reception. “One year ago, it was the most played track at EDC Vegas and then you’re playing the main stage.”

While he attended Miami’s Ultra Music Festival (UMF) in March of 2013 as a fan, 2014 has seen him grace the stages of the world’s largest music events, among them Coachella, EDC Las Vegas, Belgium’s Tomorrowland and UMF. According to data from Songkick, Garrix played more than 40 shows in the 12 months after June 1, 2013, an impressive stint considering he had classes during the week.

Despite the private jets and Instagram photos of champagne showers, it doesn’t seem like much has gone to Garrix’s head. The smooth-faced, slender teenager lacks the inflated ego that could have come with the rise in fame, and speaks animatedly with a genuine disbelief of his current lifestyle.

“Paul McCartney was watching me during my set and I looked back and was like Whaaaaa,” he says of his performance at Coachella. “ I told my parents after my set because Coachella is two weekends and Paul McCartney was at the first weekend and my parents were coming the second weekend. So I texted them and they were like, ‘Oh, we came the wrong weekend!’”

Garrix says he started producing seven years ago and played his first gigs at weddings and birthday parties. After winning several DJ competitions in Holland, he signed a record deal with dance label Spinnin’ Records in 2012, giving him the platform to create and release “Animals.” That song eventually found its way to Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber’s manager, who heard an early demo from his staffer, Michael George. George met Garrix while on trips to UMF 2013 to scout for new electronic music talent.

“Michael went to every EDM festival to find something,” remembers Braun, who also represents Ariana Grande and Carly Rae Jepsen. “Then he told me about Martin who had just turned 17. I told him, ‘I’m the guy that signs a bunch of teenagers and you want to sign another one?’”

Braun says he was convinced of George’s intuition upon hearing “Animals,” telling his employee to continue pursuing Garrix. In July of 2013, Braun moved to close the deal, calling Garrix out of the blue while the young DJ was on vacation at Club Med Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

“I called the front desk and told them, ‘I need to get to Martin Garrix–I’m from his school and this is an emergency,’” laughs Braun. “They connected me to his room. He had just tweeted something like ‘the Internet sucks at this club’ so I said, ‘I’m Scooter Braun and I’m here to fix your internet.’”

While the paperwork was hammered out the next week for a co-management deal between Braun’s SB Projects and an arm of Spinnin’ Records, Braun and George kept the deal under wraps for six months, afraid that any early attention could hamper Garrix’s status. They used that time to learn about the space and get Garrix connected to industry execs that accelerated his exposure in the U.S. Says Braun: “We didn’t want to come in as big shots. The truth was, I was a rookie in EDM.”

Garrix attributes the American success of his breakout track to Braun and George, and also commends them for making connections to the likes of singer Ed Sheeran, who will debut a track with the DJ later this year. Braun also says that a collaboration with Pharrell Williams may also happen in the near future.

“This kid can pick up a guitar and play classical guitar,” says Braun, noting Garrix’s skill as a musician. “I want to make it more than DJing and more about the music.”

For now, Garrix says music, especially a full album, is his focus. While he is on a relentless summer festival schedule, he has about six tracks ready for his debut, which could come out next year. There’s also an impending headline tour.

“There’s so much more that I want to do,” he says. “Of course it’s great what has happened so far: Ultra, Coachella, EDC. But still production-wise and show-wise–I’d love to play a show at Madison Square Garden. Stuff like that is beyond my imagination.”

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